Dear Editor,
IT seems to me as though the medical institutions in Guyana are heading for a nose dive, instead of getting better; it’s getting from bad to worst. Some weeks ago, I went to the Suddie Hospital for a medical check-up; when it was my turn in the private room to have my check-up, I saw fresh blood on the sheet; the nurse came in afterwards and I entered the room. I stood there staring at the filthy conditions which patients have to go through; no wonder many of these patients after leaving this room and going home, ended up with outbreaks of diseases and sores on their skins. This hospital is supposed to be very clean from bow to stern and well sanitised to avoid outbreak of diseases, but it seems to me no one cares about the condition of these rooms and beds which patients have to lie on.

Before I entered the room, I saw two doctors and a patient leaving it; the patient had a bandage around his neck with a yellow lotion on the floor. There was cotton wool with the same lotion strewn all over and the room smelled filthy. The nurse left surprised at the smell and the conditions of the room with blood. I told her that I am not going to lie on that filthy bed sheet. She then told me the two men that I saw come out from the room were Guyanese doctors and they are the ones who left the dressing room in that nasty and filthy state. I took a step back and asked her if this is the training these doctors get overseas.

I happened to be in Ruby Hall Clinic, a hospital in Pune, India, for two months straight and I had never even seen that hospital washroom in that state. Those hospitals are certified to international standards and you dare not throw a piece of paper on the floor. The doctors and nurses are professionals; the hospital is clean and tidy from outside the road to the highest floor. There are cleaners, handymen and porters 24/7 with no shortage of drugs and doctors. Here in Guyana, there are shortages of everything, from ethics to training and some of our doctors and nurses do not have respect for their workplace. These two doctors who had strewn dirty cotton wool all over the Suddie Hospital dressing room floor cannot work in a place like Ruby Hall Clinic, India.

They would be fired the same day. This now brings me to the point of the conditions which exist at the New Amsterdam hospital. From time to time I was informed by doctors and nurses that there is a shortage of important drugs at this hospital and the patients were forced to buy them for their survival. Today I was reliably informed that there is an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea in the region and drugs are not available. No one seems to be doing anything; it’s so frustrating.

Something is terribly wrong with these two hospitals. Is the Minister of Public Health aware of this situation which exists at the New Amsterdam hospital? We live in a world where no one cares about the sick and elderly. Where is all the money which is budgeted each year for medical supplies and drugs ? Someone should be made answerable to the President and the Prime Minister for the shortage of these life-saving drugs.

Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan